A tapestry is a handwoven textile. It is usually made with heavy threads of several colors. Most tapestries are hung on walls or suspended from ceilings.
The weaving of textile by hand requires much time and a great deal of skill. The weaver is limited by problems that other artists seldom face. He has no canvas to paint, no clay to model, no wood or stone to carve. Given only colored threads, he must manufacture and decorate his textile at the same time. Artists with patience, ability to plan, and skill to weave have always been rare, and tapestries traditionally are very expensive and precious.
In the days when the church and great royal houses ruled the world, tapestries were symbols of wealth. Whenever plays, official ceremonies, or public celebrations were held, tapestries lent beauty and richness to the events. Bishops and kings welcomed important visitors with red carpets flanked by tapestry displays. Religious processions followed routes marked with tapestries.
In the ancient tombs of Egypt pictures have been found that show weavers making tapestries of linen. Only a few fragments of Egyptian tapestries survive, but the pictures indicate that the art of tapestry weaving is about 5.000 years old.
The Hebrews learned to make tapestries while they were living in either Babylon or Egypt. The Bible mentions this art several times, and other ancient writings refer to tapestry weaving among the people of Syria, Phoenicia, Persia, and India. Famous throughout the ancient Mediterranean world were the textiles that decorated the cities of Tyre and Sidon. These fabrics impressed the Greeks and Romans, who dominated the Mediterranean lands between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500.
During the medieval period Islamic warriors swept across the Middle East. These people developed a unique style of art. Because the Islamic religion was opposed to the reproduction of figures, tapestries were made with forms called arabesques, which are bated on Arabic script, geometry, and abstract floral patterns.
Knights of the Crusades returning to Europe brought back an appreciation for many Eastern things. Among these newfound tastes was a delight in tapestries. Although the returning Crusaders spread a desire for tapestries throughout Europe, an actual knowledge of the craft probably came from the Moors, Islamic people living in Spain. There are legends about tapestry workshops that were operating in southern France as early as the end of the 8th century, long before the Crusades. If these workshops did exist, they must have been operated by or influenced by the Moors.
The first tapestries that we are certain were made in Europe were woven in the workshops of monasteries. As the wealth of princes and merchants grew, so did the demand for more luxury goods. By the 14th century, Paris had become the main city of French tapestry production. From then until the present the history of tapestry has been centered mainly in France and Flanders (now Belgium and northern France).
Most early tapestry designs were simple patterns of geometric shapes and the symbols of heraldry. Around 1360, birds and small animals began to be represented more often. Then in less than 10 years most of the important factories began to produce tapestries woven in sets that illustrated religious texts, stories of knighthood, and scenes from contemporary life. Although these tapestries were more naturalistic than work from the previous era they were still woven in the flat, decorative patterns typical of earlier work.
The Gothic period was a time of great cathedral building. To add color to the stone buildings, artists made beautiful stained-glass windows and hung tapestries. Pictures of Biblical scenes awed and educated churchgoers. Tapestries were also useful in sectioning off parts of large churches for special rites and ceremonies and in halting the drafts that flowed through the spacious churches.
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